Riot Material

Art. Word. Thought.

Meditations on the Mystical Sublime: Kourosh Beigpour’s Mandal

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at Advocartsy, Los Angeles (through 4 February 2023)
Reviewed by Christopher Ian Lutz

The human mind seeks connectivity. The writing of letters and numbers, and the drawing of lines in a painting, are acts of connecting points. Furthermore, geometry, language, narration, astrology, and philosophy are intellectual means to connect points that align with our thoughts and emotions. This symmetry of our subjective experience with the objective physical world and universal phenomenon provides us with a sense of completeness. Our nature is complete, but we do not always have a sense of fullness. We design and search for wholeness in things outside ourselves to understand our identity. Even with such a sense of self-realization in our minute incarnation, there is a need for absolute truth to understand our relationship with the greater wholeness of the universe. Therefore, we extend a connection to all things to conceive of a divine form. However we conceive of divinity, whether spiritually or materially, the source of creation is pertinent to our sense of self. It is fundamental to our conception of perfection, for which we shape morals and law. The letter, the number, and the shape are not merely instrumental marks but are philosophical arguments that are elemental to our religious, political, and social ideologies. [Read more…]

Transcendence Beyond Erasure in Mohammad Barrangi’s Dreamscape

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at Advocartsy, Los Angeles (thru 5 November 2022)
Reviewed by Christopher Ian Lutz

Fantasy requires a symbolic vehicle to transport a character from the real world into the imaginary realm, where the laws of reality are subverted or obscured to justify an otherwise absurd event. The artist might depict the vehicle as a real object or an abstract phenomenon, but within the narrative context, a vehicle functionally serves as a symbol. The symbol is required because fantasy is not merely about the sensational physical immersion of the character but is more about the subjective experience the character undergoes while on their adventure. The otherworld represents the character’s unexplored subconscious mind and deeper emotional state. Furthermore, the entire narrative itself is symbolic for the audience. Within the narrative, the fictional “real” world and the fantastic world function as symbols to immerse the audience in their unmanifest subconscious. [Read more…]

Magia Protetora: The Art of Luciana Lupe Vasconcelos and Darcilio Lima

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at the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick, Cleveland OH (through 30 September 2022)
Curated by Stephen Romano Gallery
Reviewed by Christopher Ian Lutz

The extension of a lineage occurs not merely by the repetition of form, but by the intersection of conservation and revolution. Transformation is fundamental to preserving the essence of a given tradition’s rituals and symbols. Therefore, a symbol’s form or essence can outlive the original contextual boundaries that generated its living meaning. [Read more…]

The Brush as Luminous Torch: Ray Robinson’s Blazing Portals Into the Divine Feminine

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The Third Door:Occult Works of Ray Robinson, at the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magic (through 15 January)
by Christopher Ian Lutz

Burn the Sun

The persecution of the witch is a war of the hours. The Inquisition that charged women with witchcraft was not just about controlling women’s bodies – it was a crusade to extinguish illumination. The Catholic church is a solar religion, channeling divinity through the Son (sun). The sun is the origin of light. Thus, the church considers its institution synonymous with God. As worshipers of the source of illumination, the church claims to be the only true medium of heavenly light. The Morning Star, Lucifer, signifying the master, is not a true source of enlightenment. Its illumination is merely a reflection of the sun. For this reason, the church regards Lucifer as a deceiver of spiritual enlightenment, as is the Moon. The illumination of lunar knowledge is considered an illusion by the church. It is the enlightenment of darkness. It is knowledge absent of the sun, absent of God, the source of knowledge. Therefore, lunar knowledge symbolizes the antichrist, the anti-sun. The female body is considered a vessel, not a source of divinity, and thereby, if filled with false light, she becomes the mother of the antichrist, the antithesis of the holy Madonna. Although it is through the womb of the mother that the sun is born, the church denies the female body as the vessel of divine light. They instead demand her vessel to remain empty, like a virgin. However, the Mother is nature. She is not an astral virgin. She is celestial and terrestrial. She is the creator. She is God. [Read more…]